Programs, Plans and Governance

Workplace Diversity and Inclusion oversees a number of programs, plans, policies and reports that relate to equity and diversity matters. These have a focus on the prevention of exclusion, discrimination, harassment and bullying within UQ, and the support of people from minority groups of society to participate in the UQ workplace.

Committing to providing a more accessible institution for people with disabilities.

Focusing on engaging strategies to retain and promote women staff.

Staff Engagement Survey- Equity and Diversity

Thank you to all staff who participated in the 2014 online Staff Engagement Equity and Diversity survey. 821 staff responded to the survey. The results of this survey can be found in the Staff Engagement Equity and Diversity Report below. This report is shortly to be reviewed by the Senate Committee for Equity, Diversity and the Status of Women. Following this review a number of recommendations will be made and actioned by the appropriate areas of the University. Once these recommendations have been finalised they will be reflected in the report. If you have any feedback or questions, please contact the Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Consultant.

Workplace Relations Legislation

Information about the national workplace system including the National Employment Standards can be found on the Fair Work ombudsman website. This includes information on the Fair Work Act 2009 which contains anti-discrimination and anti-bullying rights and obligations.

Gender Equity Legislation

The Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 applies to the University of Queensland, and requires it to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency each year. More information about this can be found here.

Queensland Acts

Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying Legislation

The Anti-Discrimination Act Queensland 1991 provides anti-discrimination rights and obligations in relation to the following 'protected attributes':

The University is governed by the University of Queensland Act 1998. A number of University policies, which are approved by Senate, ensure the operations of the University comply with this Act and other legislation relating to equity and diversity areas.

These policies and procedures are available through the UQ Policy and Procedures Library (PPL), a number of which relate to equity and diversity areas. These are described below

The UQ Code of Conduct applies to all staff employed by The University of Queensland. The Code of Conduct demonstrates the University’s commitment to compliancy with applicable laws and Standards, to promote a culture of fair and ethical behaviour and to encourage the reporting of corrupt practices, breaches of the law and matters detrimental to the University or its reputation.

This policy applies to all UQ staff, students and community. This policy provides an overarching statement of The University of Queensland’s commitment to equity and diversity for staff, students and the wider community and outlines internal structures and key aspects of operations where this is to be considered. The University also has obligations under a number of legislative instruments.

This policy applies to all UQ staff, students and community. The University of Queensland is committed to ensuring that the work and study environment for all University employees and students is free from sexual harassment. The purpose of this policy is to define what constitutes sexual harassment, outline preventative measures and provide links to resources for the process of resolving sexual harassment complaints.

This policy applies to all UQ staff, students and community. It outlines The University of Queensland’s commitment to ensuring staff, students and visitors to the University are able to work, study and carry out their business in an environment that exemplifies respectful relationships and is free of discrimination and harassment. The policy defines what constitutes racist behaviour and provides links to UQ grievance resolution procedures.

This policy applies to all UQ staff, students and community. It outlines the University’s commitment to ensuring that staff, students and visitors are not subjected to behaviours, practices or processes that may constitute discrimination, harassment, vilification or victimisation.

This policy applies to all UQ staff and students. It states the University’s commitments and responsibilities under legislation and aims to ensure an inclusive environment for people with a disability to participate in work and study at UQ. The University seeks to adopt and develop leading practice in the area.

This policy applies to all UQ staff, students and community. The University of Queensland is committed to the principle of equal opportunity for staff and students and promotes a work and study environment that respects work, study and family responsibilities. The purpose of this policy is to outline the conditions in which children are permitted to be in the UQ work and study environment.

This policy applies to all UQ staff members. This policy outlines the eligibility, entitlements, provisions and conditions of parental leave. This policy also outlines guidelines for people who breastfeed on campus.

This policy applies to all UQ staff and outlines the policy and associated procedures for the flexible work arrangements available to UQ staff. More information about the flexible working arrangements available to UQ staff, can be found in the flexible work arrangements section of our website.

UQ’s carer’s leave policy forms part of the Personal Leave Policy and is applicable to all UQ staff members. It outlines the availability of carer’s leave (paid and unpaid) available to support a member of the staff members immediate family or household or a significant other.

These guidelines are intended to assist the University to maintain a working environment which enables staff to observe and attend to religious and/or cultural activities/duties and is available to all UQ staff members.

This policy outlines the University’s commitment to implementing initiatives to increase the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within all levels of its staffing structure and to provide support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff retention, training, mentoring and career development.

This policy applies to all staff and provides an outline of the procedure for resolving a staff grievance in the most appropriate and best way possible. For more information about this policy, please refer to the 'Grievance Resolution Procedure' section of this website here.

The University of Queensland is committed to the positive and authentic inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the life of the University. The University recognises the value and significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in achieving and maintaining a diverse, principled and ethical scholarly community. The University has an aspirational target of 2.8% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment across the University and has developed a strategy to achieve this.

The University of Queensland Disability Action Plan 2016-2018(DAP) constitutes formal recognition of the University’s commitment to persons with disability and presents a framework of principles, objectives and operational action items to ensure that the University is a disability confident organisation that is inclusive and accessible for people of all abilities. The DAP is informed by provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and the associated Disability Standards of Education 2005.

The University, as an education provider and as an employer, is committed to improving the inclusion, accessibility and awareness of disability in all areas of the University. The Plan provides an operational framework that seeks to address and remove potential barriers that may be present in the University’s physical and digital infrastructure, employment and education design and practice so that all members of our community are able to participate in, and have access to, all that the University has to offer its staff and students.

UQ Disability Action Plan Annual Reports

As outlined in the DAP, the Provost, as principal manager, requests responsible stakeholders identified in the Plan to report annually on the achievements of the action items for which they are accountable. The 2017 UQ Annual Report provides a consolidated overview of the annual reports provided by stakeholders for the first year of operation of the DAP. The reporting period for this report is defined as the 3 December 2015 to the 15 January 2017.

The University of Queensland Strategic Plan 2014-2017is the key document in the University’s cycle of planning and accountability. It articulates the University’s focus through a set of strategic objectives which outline the direction and desired positioning of UQ forecasted into the four years. The strategies outline steps the University aims to take to achieve these objectives.

There are a number of Workplace Diversity and Inclusion key performance indicators, targets and objectives detailed in The University of Queensland Strategic Plan 2014-2017. These demonstrate UQ’s commitment to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive institution.

The equity and diversity specific objectives outline UQ’s commitment to identifying and addressing areas of under-representation amongst staff and students and providing them with a diverse range of experiences.

The University's commitment to its Strategic Plan is collective and democratic: the entire University is responsible for its delivery and achievement. Through a tiered planning process, all areas in UQ can connect their activities to the University's objectives. The annual UQ Operational Plan identifies the targets and initiatives to be achieved by the University each year, to support the achievement of the strategic targets, objectives and key performance indicators outlined in the Strategic Plan. More information about the University Operational Plans can be found on the UQ Planning and Business Intelligence website.

The University of Queensland is committed to developing and maintaining a work environment that provides equal opportunities to all staff members, from all backgrounds and lifestyles. In order to foster this culture, a number of programs have been designed and implemented by the University to ensure that all staff have an equal access to participation and career growth.

The University of Queensland is required to submit reports to the federal government, and other external agencies, on a number of equity and diversity areas. This is so the University can ensure our priorities and initiatives are of high quality, to benchmark our results and to compare our achievement and progress to other Australian universities.

The University of Queensland Workplace Diversity and Inclusion completes an annual report for the Pride in Diversity on workplace equality.

The AWEI report encompasses the programs, policies and initiatives undertaken by UQ in regards to creating equality in the workplace for people who identify as LGBTI. UQ recieved a Bronze Award in the AWEI in 2016, making it one of the top four universities in Australia in regards to egnder, sexuality and bodily diversity inclusion.

The AWEI is the national benchmark on LGBTI workplace inclusion. For more information please see the AWEI website.

When reviewing the report it is important to understand that WGEA requires organisations to categorise staff in a particular way. It is important to read information about "standardised occupational categories of managers and non-managers" in the WGEA Reference Guide pages 21-25 (https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/2017-wgea-reporting-reference-guide.pdf). For example, the "Professionals" category will not be the same as the Professional staff category Universities use. Data were based on a snapshot taken on 31 March 2017. Casuals working at that time were also included.

The report is protected and requires your staff username and password: